There's Another Me
by Dreams on Wings
Summary: Fed up with his love life, or the lack thereof, Jou wishes that he could be a bishounen for one day. Hilarity and chaos ensue.


Author's Note: Hey guys! It's been a long time! ^_^ First off, a million apologies for my long absence, but there is an extremely good reason as to why I haven't been on here for a while (I will elaborate on details later). In any case, here's a new story! (Yay!)

This fanfic, for all intents and purposes, is a crack fic. With a plot. Trust me. I got the inspiration for this when I saw a fellow fan's fabulous fanart of Jou drawn exceedingly handsomely (unfortunately, I have never been able to find it ever since).

**OBLIGATORY SHIPPING WARNING****:** I normally don't like spelling out the pairings for people before the story has even started (I feel that relationships make up an entire half of the story, and revealing them would be like revealing the plot), but since there is a very vocal part of the fanbase regarding shipping, I will warn you that there's a lot of "ship teasing" in this story, including (but not limited to) Sorato, Joura, Joumi, etc. etc... If you are one of those who absolutely cannot tolerate any other pairings beside your own One True Pairing, then this fic is not for you. However, if you are like me and enjoy these alternate pairings, please proceed ^_^

I only plan on making this a two-shot, and the next chapter will be posted sometime next month. Okay, enough rambling... Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: A Very Unusual Occurrence<strong>

Kido Jou gulped down a mouthful of his strawberry shake as he caught a trio of high school girls staring at him from across the café. The one in the middle was blushing madly while her two friends giggled and whispered girly things into the flushed one's ears. The bespectacled teen felt his ears and cheeks heating up.

A moment later, the red-faced one was shoved out of her seat by her friends. She looked at them with a look that was both giddy and nervous; they only motioned with their hands, shooing her to go. The girl turned around, took in a deep breath, and with a million-dollar smile, started walking in Jou's direction. He was glad he had decided to use Shuu's Lacoste cologne today.

"Gomamon," he hissed to his partner seated next to him at their table. The Digimon's order of "I Really, Really, REALLY Gotta Have It" sized green tea ice cream - the spoon abandoned long ago - was all over the place. It covered Gomamon's face, his chair, over half of the table, parts of the tiled floor, and the front window (for which Jou couldn't recall the exact reason why, especially since they were seated near the back). "Clean up!"

The aquatic Digimon's face emerged from the humongous ice cream cup. His normally white visage was stained a bright green.

"Whatcha say, buddy?"

"I said clean up your mess! There's a girl coming over here!" Jou began frantically pulling napkins out of the silver container and wiping off any evidence in violation of proper table etiquette. Gomamon in turn tried to help by licking the furniture with his slobbery tongue. The girl was now only a couple short seconds away, and, not knowing what else to do, Gomamon hid the used napkins in his mouth for the time being. Jou then wiped his hands dry, fixed up his hair and sport coat, and smiled friendlily for the stranger.

"H-hey," she said nervously, "I was watching you from my table…"

"I noticed," Jou replied with a baritone ring in his voice. Or at least, he would have, had not another voice from behind interrupted him with, "I was watching you, too. I couldn't help but notice how your eyes sparkle."

Confused, Jou swiftly turned to look behind him. The girl was talking to a handsome boy seated at the table directly behind Jou. She blushed uncontrollably as he stood up and charmed her with a beautiful smile.

"Let's go, Gomamon," Jou sighed, defeated. His head hung as he stood up, only to notice that his partner was looking a bit green, to say the least.

"Gomamon, are you okay?" he asked as he picked him up from the chair. "Say something, what's wrong?"

A split second later, Gomamon ejected the huge wad of dissolving napkins, along with what appeared to be gallons of half-digested green tea ice cream, onto his partner's uniform. As Jou stood there in disbelief, he could hear female voices - as well as a male one - laughing heartily at his misfortune.

* * *

><p>"Ugh, I can't believe this!" Jou lamented as he tore off his ruined uniform.<p>

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Gomamon exclaimed, closing the door shut behind him. "If you want, I can have my buddies clean that up and have it done before you can say 'smelly fish.'"

"That's not it, Gomamon!" The exasperated teen balled up the sticky mess, threw it into his hamper, and began rummaging through his dresser for some replacement garments.

"Alright, I confess! I clogged the toilet!"

"You what? Wh-whoa!"

The seal Digimon winced as his partner lost his balance, crashing into his desk and tumbling to the floor in a tangled heap.

"Jou, what was that?" a voice called from behind the door. The teen sat up abruptly, with only one arm and his head halfway through his t-shirt and his pajama bottoms crumpled around his ankles. Pencil shavings from his pencil sharpener thickly coated his mussed-up blue hair.

"Nothing, Mom!" came the muffled reply. He seized the collar of his shirt and squeezed the rest of his head through the hole. "Just… stepped in the trash can, that's all!"

"Again? Well, make sure you clean up everything, you know how your father is!"

"Yes, Mom!"

The young man slipped his other arm through his shirt and looked at his possessions scattered all around the floor. He sighed heavily, sitting in the chaos for a moment. Then, he threw his hands into the air and screamed in frustration, grabbing his hair in fistfuls and ripping it out.

"For goodness sake! This is my final year of high school! I'm only eighteen, at the prime of my youth! I'm a highly eligible bachelor on his way to becoming a doctor! So why don't I have a girlfriend yet?"

"Ohh, is that what this is all about?" Gomamon laughed, giving his partner a hearty slap on the back. "But hang on, pal, didn't you just say the other day that you don't have time for a girlfriend?"

Jou stopped the assault on his hairdo and looked down at the carefree Digimon with his dark eyes. In the blink of an eye, the teenager grabbed the white animal by the armpits and began shaking him vigorously.

"That's not the point, Gomamon!"

"Th-then wha-at i-is y-yo-our poin-t?"

"The point," he emphasized with every fiber of his being, "is that not one girl has ever taken a second glance at me! At this rate, I'm going to be a bachelor my entire life!"

Having now lamented his concerns, Gomamon was released with a thud, his eyes swirling from his partner's outburst, and Jou stood on the floor on all fours, a certain despair hanging over his head. It was true that as a third-year high school student and a medical-school hopeful, he had little time to spare for his friends, let alone a would-be sweetheart. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't interested. Even a scholarly teenager like himself had dreams of meeting that special person, getting married, and raising a family; before that, however, he first had to get a girl to notice him, and so far, he was having absolutely no luck. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

"I wish I had a girlfriend…"

"Well then why don't you ask Hikari out?" Gomamon suggested nonchalantly. Once again, he was abruptly snatched up by the armpits and brought so close to Jou's face that dark eyes and green eyes were only centimeters apart.

"Do you realize what kind of repercussions that would have on my friendship with Taichi?" he drawled ominously.

"Then you just gotta show Taichi what a gentleman you'd be to his sister."

The distressed teen began shaking the poor seal again.

"You're not looking at the bigger picture, Gomamon! Aside from Taichi, I'm way too old for Hikari-chan, and there's plenty of guys her age who she'd be more likely to date than me! Plus, if we ever got together, there's a whole lot of people that'd be _extremely_ ticked off! Why, it could even start a war!"

"_A war? Are you serious? What kind of war?_"

"A flaming one involving ships, most likely, and we'd be sorely outnumbered!"

"Okay! Okay! How about Mimi?"

"I get the strangest feeling that that would have the same results, except even flamier…"

"Well, what about Sora?"

"SHE'S ALREADY WITH YAMATO, YOU IDIOT!"

"Jun? She's a nice girl."

"HECK NO!"

"Miyako?"

"Now that's just stereotyping…"

"Um… what's that girl's name? The one that got abducted by Oikawa three years ago?"

"Noriko?"

"No, no, the other one… The obscure one that wanted to be a baker… oh, Keiko!"

"Does that pairing even exist?"

"Oh fine," Gomamon said, wriggling free of his partner's tense grip. "Look pal, I've listed nearly every girl you could think of. All of them are girls you know fairly well already, so if you don't want to date any of them and go find some random girl on the street, then you're on your own."

The exasperated seal slicked his orange hair back, about-faced, and turned his tail up at Jou, marching pompously toward the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded the young man.

"If you must know," the Digimon replied without stopping, "I need to take a dump. Don't expect me back for a while."

Somehow, the small tetrapod opened the door by himself and rounded the corner into the hallway, before sticking his head back into the bedroom.

"By the way, you do remember that it's Mimi's birthday tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, her present's already wrapped in my closet. I'll grab it before we leave," he reassured his partner, and satisfied with that answer, Gomamon disappeared behind the door with a click of the knob.

Finally by his lonesome, Jou got to his feet, brushing off the pencil shavings, and trudged through the mess of books, writing utensils, office supplies, and papers as he made his way to the balcony. He thought how lucky he was, being able to move into Shuu's old room after he permanently moved out, as he slid the glass door open and stepped outside. Having been given the one bedroom without windows when they had first moved there, the eighteen-year-old found himself out here every night, either to think or to look at the skyline or just to breathe the fresh, salty air. Right now, however, the night sky looked down upon a less-than-happy student who had everything going for him, except his (nonexistent) love life. It had never bothered him before - truth be told, it really wasn't even bothering him now - but as he stood there, meters above hundreds of happy couples on their Friday night dates, he couldn't help _but _think about it.

_If I'm busy now, just wait until I get to med school_, he thought miserably. _I'll barely have time to brush my teeth! Even if I don't have much free time as it is, now's the best time to date._

He turned around and leaned on the cool railing, coming face-to-face with his reflection in the glass. Since that final battle against BelialVamdemon, his physique had changed a bit, he thought. He had grown a lot and was still the tallest of the Japanese Chosen Children - although Yamato was quickly catching up, and Ken was shooting up like a weed; his body now appeared long and lanky, perhaps even frail from all the studying. Because he spent so much time indoors, his pale skin almost glowed like the moon. His hairstyle hadn't changed much in the past three years, except that he decided to go with bangs again, which more often than not ended up in his eyes, and speaking of, his dark eyes situated behind his thin-framed glasses still looked the same. In fact, his whole face looked a little childish in comparison to his classmates and peers. If he looked at pictures, he could tell that he had changed over the years, but there was still a noticeable difference between his narrow jaw and the others' square ones, his wide, innocent eyes and their set-back ones, his flat cheekbones and their prominent ones. While he clearly didn't look feminine, there was a certain masculinity he felt he lacked.

"I guess I can see why girls don't check me out," he sighed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "And even if they did, I don't have any charm or charisma."

Below him, a girl screamed. Startled, he quickly turned around and scanned the street for the victim. Two girls screamed a second later, and he quickly spotted them huddled together. He groaned however, when he realized they were only fawning over a male tarento magazine. He jammed his index fingers tightly into his ears, but even that couldn't keep out their high-pitched squeals over the most attractive men in Japan.

"MatsuJun-kun is soooooooo beautiful!"

"I know! But Shun-kun is the _most _beautiful!"

"MatsuJun!"

"Shun!"

"MatsuJun!"

"Shun!"

"Matsu-! Oh who cares, they're all bishounen anyway!"

"Hehe, I know! Viva bishounen!"

_Bishounen my butt! All they do is smile and wink, and the girls go crazy!_

Thankfully, the girls' incessant chatter started to fade away as they walked around the block, eventually blending into the city sounds. The young man breathed a sigh of relief and leaned over the railing. He lifted his eyes unto the cloudless heavens, when out of the blue, a shooting star appeared. It traveled rather slowly across the great expanse, as if wanting hopeless dreamers to see it and make their impossible wishes. For the few seconds it was visible, Jou followed it closely with his dark eyes, colored the same shade as the night sky.

"Although, I wish I could be a bishounen, even for just one day," he murmured just after the celestial object disappeared from the earth's view once again. For a moment, the troubled teen stood still on the balcony, gazing absent-mindedly into space as a light wind blew through his droopy hair. He took a deep breath, basking in the summery breeze.

"Well, no use standing around wishing about it!" he said decidedly as he stood up straight, pumping his biceps. "If I'm ever going to get a girlfriend, I'll just have to change myself!"

"You can start by pulling up your pants," Gomamon suggested from behind.

Needless to say, somebody threw another hissy fit just then.

* * *

><p>"Sora, I'm heading out now!"<p>

The seventeen-year-old grunted as she steadily set the heavy flowerpot on the floor.

"Okay, Mom! I'll see you when you get back! Don't forget to give Dad the pictures!"

"I won't! Bye!"

"Bye-bye!"

Takenouchi Sora slid open the glass door to their balcony and stepped out, where the glittering sunlight and the cool, morning breeze greeted her. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she thought of the day ahead. Mimi was coming, and not only that; today, she was turning sixteen! Apparently, sixteen was a big deal in America, similar to when one turned twenty in Japan, Sora guessed, and so, Mimi had decided to celebrate her very special birthday in Japan with the other Chosen Children, her best friends in the entire world. Everyone had been looking forward to this day, but none were as excited as Sora (except perhaps Miyako… bless her hyperactive but well-meaning heart). In spite of the far distances and hurried conversations over the phone or chat, the two girls still consider each other her best girl friend.

The sound of knocking at the front door reached Sora's ears. There was a pause, followed by another round of knocking.

"Piyomon, could you get that, please?" she called to her partner, enjoying the weather too much to budge. The orange-haired girl heard a plane overhead and squinted at it against the sun. She wondered if that was Mimi's flight, until she remembered that her friend wouldn't be landing for another three hours.

_I'd better finish cleaning the apartment. There's still so much to do!_

As she took in the fresh air one more time, footsteps approached her from behind.

"Thanks for answering the door, Piyomon," she began, stretching. "Now, we've got a lot to do before the boys arrive. First off, we need to rearrange the furniture so we'll have enough space for everyone tonight. So, I was thinking we should move the plants onto the balcony for now-"

She stepped back into the apartment and immediately stopped. Her vision was slightly altered by the bright sunlight, but she could clearly see a tall, lanky, unfamiliar figure, taller by a whole head, standing before her.

"Good morning, Sora," greeted a smooth, velvety voice. "How may I be of assistance to you today?"

He offered a hand slowly, but the frightened girl instinctively slapped it away and pushed him to the ground as she ran past him, screaming. Slightly dizzy, the stranger rolled over onto his knees as quickly as he could, only to come face-to-face with Sora, armed with a broom.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" she demanded vehemently.

"Sora, just relax!" pleaded the intruder, holding his hands up in surrender. "The front door was unlocked, so I just came in-!"

"Get out of here, right now!" she screamed again, waving the bristles in his face. The strange man, unfazed, merely grabbed the end of the broomstick and moved it to the side as he rose to his feet.

"Come on, you remember me," he persisted, "we've known each other for so long…"

"Get away from me!" She shoved her whole weight into her weapon, successfully forcing back the intruder. He reacted just as quickly, however, and yanked the cleaning tool out of her hands; he proceeded to set it down gently, only to have a throw pillow hurled into his face, knocking his glasses away.

"Sora, get a grip, will you? It's me! IT'S ME!"

"I'm warning you, my boyfriend's going to be here any minute now!" the unrelenting high school girl threatened, another pillow in her grasp.

"Sora, if you don't put the pillow down right now…"

The man stood and charged at her.

"Get back! GET BACK!" she shrieked, moving to hurl the decorative piece at the attacker. He was too quick for her though, so quick that she was unable to follow his movements as he stealthily grabbed her wrists, completely immobilizing her. The force of the assault sent the two of them crashing onto the couch, pinning the terrified girl beneath this creep who most likely only had impure intentions. She tried to scream, but a hand clamped firmly over her mouth.

"Stop struggling already," he whispered into her ear. His hot breath sent tingles up and down her spine, an uncomfortable sensation that only increased her feelings of dread as she writhed against his strong grasp. "I'm going to remove my hand, but you have to promise that you won't scream, understand?"

A muffled affirmative seeped between the man's fingers, and he released her, as promised. Immediately, she began yelling for help, throwing the man into a state of panic.

"My, my, doesn't this look compromising," mused a familiar voice. Sora whipped her head around and saw Gomamon eyeing her and the stranger. His trademark "W"-smile curled even more at the corners as he raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"G-Gomamon? When-? How did-?" she sputtered. Then, it hit her. Her amber eyes focused back on the man on top of her, wide with disbelief. "Jou?"

Looking more closely, she could see that it was her old friend, but there was something distinctly different about him. For the most part, he was the same old Jou she had always known - still tall, still lanky, still pale, still dark-eyed and blue-haired. But he emitted a certain aura about him; he now seemed slender and lean, rather, with his skin glistening like perfect china, his still-childlike eyes twinkling with innocence, and his bangs falling in just the right places over his face. The way he partially opened his mouth…

"I tried to tell you," those perfectly shaped lips explained in a hushed tone, "but you wouldn't listen."

"J-Jou, no! I… I shouldn't have… I'm so sorry," she apologized, feeling her face growing hotter. "I just didn't realize it was… _you_." The sight of him finally overcame the teenage girl, and she forced herself to look away, slightly embarrassed. "You just… seem different, somehow…"

A hand tender touched her cheek and turned her face back toward his.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, moving in closer. His visage was so beautiful, it seemed as if a backdrop of pink and yellow light complete with shimmering glitter had suddenly appeared. "I've always, always been this way…"

Sora closed her eyes, unable to think, unable to even control her own movements. Her body was acting completely on its own as she surrendered herself completely to Jou…

"IT'S NOT HEALTHY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUNG WOMEN SO EARLY IN THE MORNING!" Piyomon announced with a swift kick to Jou's head. The eighteen-year-old went soaring through the air and into the large flowerpot, scattering soil all over the linoleum floor. Opening her eyes, Sora immediately sat up.

_What was that just now?_ she wondered in confusion as the heat in her face began to dissipate. _And what's with that suave voice? Just what is going on?_ Gomamon walked over to his partner, who brushed away the dirt from his hair, whipping it about as he did, and once again, Sora found herself blushing. _This is Jou, right?_

* * *

><p>Izumi Koushiro typed away madly at the keyboard, keeping a keen eye on the meters in his peripheral vision.<p>

"Tentomon, Junction 3 needs more voltage power," instructed the techno whiz.

"Right away, Koushiro-han!" the mechanical insect responded and immediately went to work using his Petit Thunder attack.

"That's good, Tentomon! Okay, now Agumon, I need you to seal that off. We're done with that part now."

"Leave it to me!" the orange dinosaur declared. Raising his claw high, he brought it crashing down onto the metal casing, which crinkled with each successive pounding.

"Oi, oi, Agumon! Don't get too carried away!" advised his partner.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Taichi!"

With his arms folded across his chest, Yagami Taichi flashed a thumbs-up at his friend and grinned.

"Don't worry about it. Better to overdo than under, right?"

"Right!"

The two partners high-fived with both hands and laughed.

"Alright, that should just about do it," Koushiro declared, leaning back in his swivel chair.

"I bet Mimi-han will be impressed, dontcha think?" Tentomon said.

"I'm sure she will!" agreed the former gogglehead. "This is going to be the greatest birthday present ever!"

"Ever!" echoed Agumon.

"_Mai-ya-hee! Mai-ya-hoo! Mai-ya-hah! Mai-ya-hah-hah!_" an overly enthusiastic voice sang.

"Oh, it's Sora!" Taichi said excitedly as he flipped open his cell phone. "Hello? Sora? Hey, what's up! I was going to be there in a couple hours- … Wait… Huh? … What do-? … Slow down, woman! … Ok, so what's going on? … Well, I'm at Koushiro's right now… Uh-huh… Uh-huh… Hmmm… Uh-huh… Okay, we'll be right up! See you in a bit!"

"What was that all about?" Koushiro inquired.

"I'm not really sure, something about Jou," he replied, snapping his phone shut. "In any case, she wants all of us to head up there as soon as we can."

"Is there going to be cake?" Agumon asked eagerly.

"Probably not… She seemed pretty serious."

"Well, hopefully it's nothing too serious," stated Tentomon.

"Yeah, like abnormal weather patterns or Vamdemon returning in some form or other again," Koushiro laughed. The other three merely stared at him.

"Koushiro-han, were you making a joke?"

"Um, well…" He pushed his index fingers together nervously. "Y-yeah, I was…" The sixteen-year-old looked up at his friends. "Was it funny?"

"Come on, guys, let's hurry up before Piyomon eats all the cake," Agumon said, leading the way out.

The four of them made their way to the elevator and waited patiently for it to reach their floor. Having stayed up all night working on Mimi's birthday present, however, patience was already running low, and Koushiro and Tentomon soon found themselves desperately trying to keep Taichi and Agumon from pounding away at the helpless elevator buttons any longer.

"What are you guys doing?"

The Bearers of Courage and Knowledge and their partner Digimon looked up to see Ishida Yamato and Gabumon standing in the lobby. Beyond the glass doors, a horde of screaming girls wearing "Teenage Wolves" shirts and toting Yamato plush dolls and posters waited for their idol to return to them. The blonde rock star groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, we were just heading up to Sora's apartment," explained Koushiro, who had Taichi in a grapple.

"You, too, huh?"

"Sora called Yamato a while ago, but we only just managed to get here," Gabumon smiled, eyeing his partner. "Fangirls, you know how they are."

"Hehe, Yamato's got a million admirers," joked Taichi as the six of them went into the elevator. "So since you've got so many girls, can I have Sora?"

"I already gave you Jun, what more do you want," the blonde shot back.

"Actually, could you take her back? That girl will not leave me alone! After she broke up with Shuu, she was all like, 'I need someone my own age after all!' And now, she's, like, stalking me!"

Yamato laughed.

"Well, too bad. I only need one girl in my life, and that girl's Sora."

"Hey, didn't your parents teach you to share?"

"Taichi!" Koushiro exclaimed.

"Relax, Koushiro," Taichi waved him off.

"Yeah, we're only joking," Yamato reassured him.

"Even still," he continued uneasily, "joking about that kind of thing is going too far…"

"Well, I just trust Sora and Taichi that much."

"Same here. Although, I know that Sora loves _me _the most, because I'm her _best_ friend. You're only her _boy_friend."

"You wish!"

The two seventeen-year-olds laughed, while Koushiro continued gawking at his friends' audacity. Maybe they were comfortable enough to talk like this, but it still made him feel awkward.

"So, any ideas on what's up?" Yamato asked as they approached Sora's front door.

"Maybe Jou got tangled up in all the streamers," suggested Agumon.

"Yup, that wouldn't be surprising," agreed Gabumon.

"Or perhaps he burned the cake?" Tentomon speculated.

"Or maybe he got a bellyache from eating the burned cake," Taichi joined in.

"I knew it! There _was _cake!"

"Well, time to find out."

Koushiro knocked three times on the door, and they stood in silence as they waited for someone to answer. After a few seconds, Sora opened the door; her expression was something between relief, confusion, and uncertainty.

"Hi guys. I'm so glad you're here."

"So what's going on?" asked her boyfriend as he gave her a one-armed hug.

"Well, uh…" she started, shuffling uncomfortably, "I'm not really sure how to say this… Maybe it's best if I just show you…"

She led the newcomers into the living room, where Piyomon and Gomamon crouched around a shattered flowerpot and, sitting on one of the couches, an unfamiliar man of unearthly beauty caressed his aching head with an ice pack.

"S-S-Sora," Yamato stuttered, pointing a shaky finger at his girlfriend's guest, "w-who is that?"

"And Gomamon's here," Agumon pointed out. "Is Jou here, too?"

"Yeah…" the orange-haired girl replied, pointing shyly to the stranger, "that, over there, is Jou…"

"HUH?"

The stranger who was apparently their friend waved at the dumbstruck group, donning a half-smile.

"Hello everyone. Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"J-Jou! What in the world happened to you?"

"What do you mean? I feel fine."

"You don't look fine to me!" Taichi ran up to the bespectacled man, nearly colliding heads with him. "What did you do to yourself?"

"Nothing, Taichi! What are you freaking out about?"

"I tried to tell him," Gomamon interjected, holding up his hands and shaking his head, "but he said the same thing."

"Seriously, what are you all talking about?" Jou demanded, more bewildered than ever.

"What are _we _talking about? Look at you!" exclaimed Koushiro. "You-! You look-! … You look… great."

"You know, he's right," Gabumon observed, taking a closer look. "Have you been doing anything differently? New shampoo? Using scented lotion? Did you wax yourself?"

"W-wax my-? No!"

"He tried to assault Sora earlier," informed Piyomon.

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"AHHHHH! I'M SORRY, YAMATO!"

"It was just a misunderstanding!" Sora shouted, throwing herself between her friend and her boyfriend. "I didn't recognize him when he came in, so I panicked and, well… things happened, but that's not important right now!"

"What kind of things?" the rock star demanded as he eyed Jou darkly. The eighteen-year-old yelped and hid behind the closest throw pillow.

"He had her pinned down like an aggressive lover in a very compromising position," Gomamon recalled with mischievous glee.

"Be quiet, you!" Jou yelled.

"Is that what happened?" the blonde questioned.

"Um, yeah," she admitted, "but it was so strange. I don't know what came over me. Even though I was pinned down, he seemed so… helpless, and… beautiful…"

"What?"

Her amber eyes faded into a trancelike state, as her mouth cracked into a smile.

"… his eyes were sparkling, and there was so much glitter…"

"Glitter?"

"I'm lost," Koushiro said. Agumon, Gabumon, and Tentomon all agreed with him. Conversely, Taichi stroked his chin, a certain smirk creeping across his tan face.

"Interesting, very interesting," he thought aloud.

"Any ideas, Sherlock?" the redhead asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Everyone, take a seat! Jou, stand in the middle right there!"

The others did as they were told; Yamato sat very close to Sora and wrapped an overprotective arm around her. Jou looked at Taichi uncertainly.

"So, why am I the only one standing?"

"Take off your shirt."

"Heh?"

"I want you to take off your shirt," the brunette reiterated.

"Why do you want me to do that?"

"Just do it."

Sighing, the eldest of the original Chosen Children began unbuttoning his short-sleeved dress shirt slowly, feeling his dignity slipping away with each button. Once the last had been undone, he slid the top off his shoulders and tossed it to the side gracefully. Immediately, the same pastel backdrop appeared all around him, accompanied by shimmering lights and sounds. The kicker, however, was that all nearby flower arrangements started blooming uncontrollably; buds became full-blown blossoms, rose petals seemed to shower on the exposed teen from out of nowhere, and the glitter sparkled even more brightly, like morning dew.

"How's… this?" Jou asked sheepishly as he looked away, suddenly speaking in a very polished manner only heard in shoujo anime or J-dramas. Koushiro suddenly found himself wanting to puke, while Taichi continued nodding beside him. His excitement was clearly growing.

"Good, very good." He walked up to Jou, still grinning, and slapped him across the face. Sora gasped, along with their partner Digimon. Jou, too, was appalled that his friend would do something like that. Cupping the offended cheek, water began collecting at the corners of his eyes as his bottom lip trembled. Interestingly, the glitter and shimmering sounds intensified, accompanied by a lonely violin crying softly in a minor key.

"T-Taichi! That's so cruel of you…!"

The soccer captain took his friend by the hand, the other arm wrapping around his back and pulling him closer. As much as possible, he brought his chocolate eyes close to the taller male's dark ones.

"Forgive me, Jou, I don't know what came over me," he stated in an overly dramatic and obviously fake suave tone. The bespectacled youth looked away, blushing.

"Well, i-if it's you, then of course I will."

"Jou…"

"Taichi…!"

"KYA!"

All eyes darted to Sora, who had stood suddenly as she cried out; she wore an ear-to-ear grin, with her eyes twinkling with admiration and her hands clasped together like an excited little girl. A second later, the orange-haired girl realized what she had done and quickly sat down, red with embarrassment.

"That settles it then," Taichi proclaimed, releasing Jou from his hold. He placed his hands on his hips and paced over to the broken flowerpot, his back toward his friends. "Jou, I know what's wrong with you."

"You do?"

As theatrically as he could, Taichi pointed back at him, arm fully extended, and declared with gusto, "You have become… A BISHOUNEN!"

The balcony door may or may not have been open, but a gust of wind blew through the awkward atmosphere, showing off in a loop before disappearing.

"A what, now?" Gomamon asked, tilting his head.

"A bishounen, a pretty boy, a young man whose beauty and sexual appeal transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation," the brunette rambled without missing a beat, "and currently a very popular fad with the female population today."

"And how is it that you know all that?" Koushiro raised an eyebrow, still gagging for unknown reasons.

"Courtesy of Wikipedia."

"A BISHOUNEN? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Jou cried. "HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?"

"There are several possible reasons as to how," Taichi explained, chin in hand once again. "One, you received a magical object that transforms you into an older or more attractive version of yourself - in this case, the latter. Two, you made an unyielding wish unto a wishing object that somehow decided that your wish would be best granted in this manner. Three, nothing supernatural has actually happened; rather, you've always had the potential to look the way you do and simply got a makeover that brought out your true beauty. Or four, the animators of our typically shounen anime decided to do an art shift experiment."

"It sounds like you've been reading a lot of shoujo manga lately," Sora remarked suspiciously.

"Hikari subscribes to Nakayoshi, and I sneak a few peeks so I can tease her a little."

"B-b-b-b-b-b-but all of that is just too farfetched!" the bewildered teen protested.

"Got a better explanation?" challenged the brunette.

"Well… Fine, let's just say those are valid possibilities. How would I have gotten a hold of a magical object or a wishing object or whatever? And I most certainly did not get a makeover in the twenty-four or thirty-six hours since I last saw you guys. Trust me, I would know!"

"Ah, wait a minute, wasn't there a shooting star last night?" Tentomon cut in.

"Yeah, there was," Agumon remembered.

"Shooting… star?" Jou's glasses slid down his nose as his whole expression fell. That moment on the balcony suddenly came back like a bullet train to the face. Was it possible? Everything he heard about wishing upon the evening star or a shooting star, all those stories and songs and girly movies… He had never believed in any of that, of course, but with everything that was going on… Sure, he made that wish, but that was in a moment of weakness. In any case, he hated shoujo manga and their flowery plotlines and unrealistically drawn people! What kind of malicious person could bestow upon this poor high school student the cruel fate of being cast as the one character type he despised? With this realization sinking in, he collapsed to the ground on all fours, head hung in shame and lament.

"It's official," he declared quietly as a spotlight shone over him, "the universe hates me."

"Come on, Jou," Sora encouraged, kneeling beside her friend. "I'm sure this isn't permanent. It's got to wear off sometime, right?"

"I don't know…"

"Well, not to be mean, but we don't have time to worry about Jou's condition right now," Gomamon said over the sudden emergence of a slow and melancholic piano solo.

"Yeah, Mimi and Palmon are going to be here really soon, and there's still so much left to do," Piyomon joined.

"Oh no! What time is it?" her partner exclaimed, glancing up at the clock. "I need to go now so I can get to the airport! And I haven't even cleaned the apartment, I need to go get some supplies still, and the birthday cake-!"

"I didn't eat it!" Agumon declared.

"Just leave it to us, Sora," Taichi reassured her.

"Are you sure?"

"Now when have I ever let you down?"

"Thanks, Taichi. Alright, so the apartment needs to be cleaned… That flowerpot has to go, and if you could mop the floor and maybe rearrange the living room…"

"We'll do that!" the Digimon offered.

"Great, and there's a list of party supplies and ingredients that we still need on the fridge-"

"I'll get the food!" Taichi grinned.

"I'll go with him as well," Koushiro added.

"Okay, so then… Yamato, could you and Jou get the party supplies? … Yamato, are you all right?"

"H-huh? What?" the blonde startled.

"Your face is all red."

"Oh, am I? I mean, is it?"

"Hey, are you blushing?" Taichi asked.

"I AM NOT!" he yelled as he hid his bright crimson face from the others. "W-why would I be?"

"Hmm… Could it be that you find Jou's naked torso arousing?"

"WHAT?"

"Taichi, what are you saying?" Sora exclaimed.

"Transcending the boundary of gender or sexual orientation…"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"After all, bishounen are more often than not attracted to each other as well…"

"WILL YOU SHUT YOUR BLABBERING?" the embarrassed rock star commanded, zooming to the other side of the room and getting in Taichi's face.

"My, you're a tsundere after all, Yamato," Taichi said coyly.

"That's enough, boys," Sora interrupted as she pushed the two away from each other. "I'm going to the airport now and should be back in about two hours. Mimi wants to drop her stuff off first and then go around town before the party, but I at least want this place cleaned up by then. I'll leave it to you guys. See you then. Oh, and Jou, please don't take your shirt off anymore. I can't afford to have all of my mother's flower arrangements blooming until they burst."

Someone tossed the discarded garment at the mournful figure so that it landed perfectly over his back. Immediately, the room lighting returned to normal, and the annoying background music vanished, leaving the eighteen-year-old kneeling amongst the remains of the flower storm. The front door clicked shut, and the four guys and the Digimon now stood together in the living room.

"Well, we better not waste any more time," Yamato said quickly, heading for the door. "C-come on, Jou."

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

Slipping his shirt on, the bespectacled teen followed after his friend, and the door slammed shut once again.

"You think those two will be okay?" the brunette posed.

"Somehow, I don't think so," the redhead answered.

The two boys looked at each, locking eyes for a moment before bursting into fits of giggles.


End file.
